About

Hi. My name is Nathan Wahlgren, and I am the Keydet Piper. I am a graduate of Virginia Military Institute (Keydet), and I play Highland Bagpipes (Piper). I live in the Washington, DC area, where I am a full time graduate student.  I am an ISTJ, a skeptic, and a self-affirming geek. I like listening to music, making jokes, reading books, solving logic and crossword puzzles, playing with dogs and cats, spending quality time with friends, and long walks on the beach.

I started piping when I started college in August 1998, and since that time the bagpipes have gone from pastime to hobby to passion to obsession. The music is haunting and inspiring, the people are fascinating and friendly, and doggone it the bagpipes are just fun to play.

I’m an active solo competitor, playing in Grade 1 competitions in the EUSPBA. I also play with the grade 3 MacMillan Pipe Band, based in Rockville, MD.

My pipes are Hendersons and are approximately 60 years old. I am their second owner. Here’s the story of how they came to be in my possesion.

KeydetPiper.com started back in 2004, when I began learning how to make web pages to market my piping services online.  It’s had a few different looks over the next few years, but the content stayed pretty much the same.  In January 2008 the Keydet Piper blog came into existence, and I wrote about a lot of things, some related to piping and some not. Although there were links between the two pages they were separate entities, until one day in February 2009 when they merged and created the SUPER DUPER MEGA KEYDET PIPER WEBSITE AND BLOG that you are reading now.

Enjoy reading the site, feel free to comment, and most of all, enjoy your piping.